The bond between a parent and child can and should never be underestimated. If you are a parent you don’t need further explanation. As a parent, you feel it, you know it, and you live it. There is no denying it. The overwhelming need to protect and provide for your child is what keeps the human race going. Guess what, it’s no different in the animal world. It’s just much less understood.

Let’s take a look at parenthood in the animal world and see if we can’t clear up a prominent misconception. In particular, let’s look at the perception of baby “abandonment” by the parents. The whole notion that parent animals abandon their young just for the sake of it is of much concern. Right now I can hear all of my wildlife rehabbing friends cheering. In particular I want to talk about baby White-tailed deer. At this time of year many people are finding young White-tailed deer lying in the fields, woods or at the edge of their yards. These deer are only a few days old and are incredibly small and vulnerable. It’s tempting to think they are abandon by their mother. Nothing could be further from the truth. Mother deer don’t raise their young in the same way people do, so all the parameters that apply to people don’t apply in the animal world.

In the first few days of life, young White-tailed deer are not strong enough to keep up with their mothers. So Mother Nature has come up with an ingenious plan to protect these young deer. This is the way it works. Weak and incapable of running right after birth the young deer don’t have many options. So after the mother licks the baby clean and it dries out after birth the baby lays down. In the mothers efforts to clean her newborn she has rendered the youngster odorless. This is one of the most important aspects of the newborns defense. Mammalian predators such as bear and coyote use scent to find prey so a baby without scent is extremely important.

The new born fawns are covered with light brown fur sprinkled with small white spots. The brown fur matches the leaves of the forest floor and more importantly the white spots mimic the dappled sunlight that showers the forest floor. This takes care of the visual aspects of going undetected. Lastly the baby must lie perfectly still for many hours to complete the illusion and avoid the predators.

After the baby is born, cleaned and laying down, the mother will walk away from the fawn. She doesn’t want to attract any further attention to her offspring. The baby is left unattended all day. This is where people and the abandonment issue come in. The average property owner comes across the young deer while out for a walk or while doing yard work and immediately thinks the baby was abandoned. They might even go as far as watching the baby for a couple hours to see if the mother will come back. And since the mother will only return in the evening when the sun is down the impatient landowner figures the baby has been abandon and they move in to “rescue it”.

The right choice here would be to leave the baby deer right were you found it. You can enjoy the baby for a few minutes and take a picture if you like but it’s best to just leave the baby alone. The mother will come for it after dark. When the mother returns she will call the baby out of hiding and the little one will run right up to nurse. The mother will lead the baby off to a safe location for more nursing. Once the baby has fed it will lay down again for the rest of the night. The baby will feed again in the morning and once again lay down to spend the daylight hours laying in hiding. This goes on for several nights until the baby is strong enough to follow their mother. Until next time

Stan Tekiela is an author / naturalist and wildlife photographer who travels the US to study and photograph wildlife. He can be contacted via his web page at www.naturesmart.com